I have been teaching my horse to bow and it has been going really well so far. The only problem he seems to have is that he does not want to go down on his knee. Instead he wants to stretch both front legs all the way out with his whole face on the ground. He seems to enjoy the stretch staying in this position for several seconds on his own but with his head up. When I manage to get him to almost go down on his knee he freaks out and gets scared and pops up real quick. I think he feels like he is gonna fall but am not for sure. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get him to do a proper bow??

I have been teaching my horse to bow and it has been going really well so far. The only problem he seems to have is that he does not want to go down on his knee. Instead he wants to stretch both front legs all the way out with his whole face on the ground. He seems to enjoy the stretch staying in this position for several seconds on his own but with his head up. When I manage to get him to almost go down on his knee he freaks out and gets scared and pops up real quick. I think he feels like he is gonna fall but am not for sure. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get him to do a proper bow??

My gelding used to do that when I first started teaching him. I like to start off on comfortable ground like a sand/clay arena. It puts less stress on their joints. I started by using a single hobble attached to a lead rope. And some treats. I put the treat in between his front legs and as he put his head down I would slightly pull back on the one rope to get one leg to go down. Eventually you eliminate all of the tools and add a cue. Its still a work in progress but this is what we're up to now

My mare bows on command when I say "bow"
I taught her by picking up a front hoof and telling her the command "back"
It causes her to lean back onto her haunches, which will balance her. I would keep doing this until her leg would almost touch the ground. Once we got to that point, I would release her leg and let her lean her weight on it.

I live to ride and I ride to liveHorsesarejustangelswithoutwings11/01/09 <3 my horse left hoof prints on my heart

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